The Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante takes his second individual prize of the campaign having also won the PFA Player of the Year award. He becomes the 18th player in the history of English football to win both awards in the same season.

Another Chelsea player, Eden Hazard came second in the voting, with Tottenham’s Dele Alli in third place. Between Kante and Hazard, a winner of the award in 2015, collected more than 65 per cent of the journalists’ votes.

Kante, who will receive his prize at a Gala Dinner in London on 18 May, said: ‘It is a fantastic honour to win this award. With so many great players in this Chelsea squad and in the Premier League, for the Football Writers’ Association of this country to name me as their Footballer of the Year is a very proud moment in my career.”